What do you know – iPhone 5c helped boost the iPhone 5s sales

Immediately after the iPhone 5s and 5c unveiling a theory was formed here at HQ and it was that Apple deliberately placed the iPhone 5c, removing the premium-feeling iPhone 5 with a thicker plastic phone, so that if you wanted the top experience you’d have to go with the more expensive, latest iPhone 5s.

And after two months of selling across the globe the numbers behind both the iPhone 5s and 5c seem to justify that theory completely. The iPhone 5c captured less sales compared to the iPhone 4S from a year ago, while the iPhone 5s outdid last year’s flagship by almost 10%. Did the iPhone 5c push buyers to go for the higher-end, more expensive handset?

According to a study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, spanning the October through December US sales of the latest iPhones, the iPhone 5s delivered 59% of sales compared to the 50% of the iPhone 5 in the same period of last year. As for the iPhone 5c – it captured an unimpressive 27% compared to the 32% of last year’s backup iPhone 4S.

We’ve heard reports of decreased production and lower sales figures for the iPhone 5c but it seems its 64-bit sibling was there to pick up the slack.

And if Apple had just stuck with the iPhone 5 as the midrange offering expectations are that it would have sold more than the iPhone 5c has and eating into the sales of the more profitable iPhone 5s.

We cannot say for sure if the iPhone 5c is a deliberate cunning move or just Jony Ive’s fixation gone wrong. But the numbers don’t lie – the iPhone 5s came into a lot of buyer attention thanks to its underwhelming and pricey wingman.

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